The Brothers Gow, true bros who are going somewhere

Drop out, rock out.

"We play energetic and funky rock and roll, with inspirations drawn from reggae, jazz, hip-hop, and jam bands,” says Alex Gow Bastine, who sings and plays keys with Brothers Gow. The group formed in Flagstaff, Arizona, releasing their debut full-length Key of Jee in early 2008. After relocating to San Diego in 2012, they became regulars on the O.B. scene. The group’s lineup features Bastine alongside Carson Church (bass, vocals), Kyle Merrill (guitar, trumpet, vocals), Ethan Wade (guitar, vocals), and Nathan Walsh-Haines (drums, vocals).

Past Event

Their sophomore album, Chapters, produced and mastered by Lucas Stephen, was released last year, and they’re about to embark on a summer national tour. They’ll appear at 710 Beach Club in P.B. on Friday, March 28, and at Mother’s Saloon in O.B. on Friday, April 18.

Church: “Robert Palmer, Some People Can Do What They Like. So good, with funky bass lines all day. Robert Palmer has some serious soul.”

Merrill: “Radiohead, In Rainbows. The album is very relaxed and melodic, yet still upbeat and inspirational.”

Wade: “Men at Work, Contraband. I’ve been trying to understand and appreciate what made ’80s pop music so influential. Not that these guys are the catalysts of ’80s pop, though.”

Walsh-Haines: “Local Natives, Gorilla Manor. The lyrical content pulls at my heartstrings, the cathedral-sized harmonies are brilliant, and the percussive wilderness makes me feel like I’m going through some kind of Native American coming-into-manhood ritual.”

WHAT WERE YOU TOO EMBARRASSED TO ADMIT?

Bastine: “‘The Final Countdown,’ by Europe.”

Merrill: “Fun, their Some Nights album.”

Wade: “I really like Adele.”

Walsh-Haines: “Katy Perry and Justin Bieber were in there with a couple tunes. A few friends found out and, needless to say, I’ll never hear the end of it.”

FAVORITE CONCERT?

Bastine: “Umphrey’s McGee, 2007, at John Anson Ford Amphitheatre in L.A. An amazing performance, with a raging light show, all enjoyed with a group of close friends.”

Church: “Phish at the Gorge Amphitheatre in Washington, 2003. It was my first big road trip from Portland, with five of my best friends cramped in my dad’s truck, along with a caravan of my best friends from high school.”

Wade: “Les Claypool at the Orpheum Theater in Flagstaff, Arizona. I was working as the monitor technician for the opening band, Beats Antique, and it was just before his Mushroom Men album came out.”

WHAT WOULD YOU TELL YOUNGER YOU?

Bastine: “Move to San Diego as soon as possible, and don’t waste your time anywhere else.”

Church: “Start practicing the bass, fool.”

Merrill: “Don’t be a jerk to your old girlfriend.”

Wade: “Being a drunk is not cool.”

Walsh-Haines: “Drop out of college and go rock out.”

SONG THAT BEST DESCRIBES YOUR LIFE?

Bastine: “‘Elevators (Me & You),’ by Outkast. ‘I live by the beat like you live check to check/ If you don’t move your feet then I don’t eat, so we like neck to neck.’”

Merrill: “Fun, ‘One Foot.’ ‘I’ll put one foot in front of the other one/ I don’t need a new love or a new life/ Just a better place to die.’”

Wade: “A Marcy Playground tune, ‘Good Times.’ ‘But when I’m old and in my chair, thinking back/ Looking back, what will I remember?/ All the good times, they were alright.’”

Walsh-Haines: “‘Loyalty,’ by Blue Scholars. ‘’Cuz I got your back even if you don’t got mine/ Grind in the dark when the clock strikes hard times.’”

BIGGEST REGRET?

Merrill: “Getting mixed up with the wrong crowd and the wrong drugs when I was in high school.”

Wade: “Pawning a ’91 American Stratocaster for rent.”

Walsh-Haines: “Not getting a music degree in college.”

WHERE DO YOU TAKE OUT-OF-TOWN GUESTS?

Bastine: “O.B. Noodle House.”

Wade: “Anywhere with a pool table, though I tend to be a little competitive.”

Walsh-Haines: “Coronado is touristy, but for good reason.”

ANY FEARS OR PHOBIAS?

Bastine: “Ever since I started scuba diving, I’ve developed an irrational fear of snorkeling. The anxiety is comparable to a fear of heights.”

Church: “Not touring.”

Wade: “I have this horrible fear of falling on my face and bashing all of my teeth out.”

Walsh-Haines: “Black ice.”

SOMETHING WE DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU?

Bastine: “I’ve broken my right collarbone three times and my left collarbone one time.”

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Outtakes: IN WHAT FICTIONAL UNIVERSE WOULD YOU LIKE TO LIVE?
Bastine: “Peter Pan’s Neverland sounds like a pretty sweet place.”
Church: “That ‘70s Show. Just enough technology back then, but not too much.”
Merrill: “I would be a hobbit in the Shire, laughing, drinking, and merry-making the days away.”
Wade: “Frank Miller’s Sin City.”

USELESS TRIVIA?
Bastine: “Bulls are actually color-blind and do not get enraged at the color red.”
Church: “I can sing every state in America in alphabetical order.”
Merrill: “Every person has a unique tongue print.”
Wade: “Caterpillars breathe from their feet.”
Walsh-Haines: “Apparently, the average person swallows seven spiders a year in their sleep.”

SOMETHING YOU NEVER RUN OUT OF?
Bastine: “Medicinal herb.”
Church: “Coconut curry chicken.”
Merrill: “Box of Snickers.”
Wade: “Cigarettes, of course.”
Walsh-Haines: “Pollo asada burritos, which is to say I late-night shop a lot.”

WHAT REMAINS ON YOUR BUCKET LIST?
Bastine: “Play a show at Red Rocks.”
Walsh-Haines: “Sleep under the Northern Lights.”

WORST INJURY?
Church: “Broken femur in seventh grade from a bone cyst. Two surgeries and two years later, I was back to normal. If the cyst was two inches higher, it could have stunted my growth.”
Merrill: “When I was in third grade, I rode down our steep driveway in my sister’s fake baby carriage, and I flew all the way into the street head first. I got a concussion, scraped up half of my face so I looked like Two-Face, and had to get a bridge to fix my teeth.”
Wade: “A motorcycle accident which landed me in the hospital. Luckily, I was wearing my helmet and my riding jacket that day.”
Walsh-Haines: “I got hit by a bike when I was a kid and the bone in my leg broke out of the skin.”

EVER BEEN A CRIME VICTIM?
Wade: “In Tucson, I was robbed at gunpoint on more than one occasion.”
Walsh-Haines: “I set my room on fire in college by accident, which I suppose means I victimized myself.”

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC?
Bastine: “I’m more of a science man myself.”
Wade: “As in God? Or divine creation? Or pulling rabbits out of hats? No. However, misdirection and illusion can be very captivating.”